


the end of all spells

by down



Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Angst, Community: trope_bingo, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 04:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16443185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down
Summary: There is no new Pillar. Cephiro is not reborn.





	the end of all spells

**Author's Note:**

> For trope-bingo: au - apocalypse.

When it finally ended - when Cephiro finally crumbled away, her power breaking, her soul passing on - Clef made himself stand on the bridge of their broken-down, borrowed ship and watch until he could keep his eyes open no longer. He'd bowed to the inevitable and accepted a set of loose clothing that had nothing to do with Cephiro's fabrics or existence, but he'd stubbornly held onto his staff, unable to take putting it aside even though it was in part his fault Cephiro was dying. 

At the moment the creator had finally revealed themself, with the sky full of invading enemies behind him, Clef had been forced to his knees by the sheer scale of the power suddenly unleashed. But it was Mokona's words which took the rest of his strength from him. // _There are those present,_ // Mokona had said, voice punching straight through people's souls without touching their ears, // _who have strength enough to become the next Pillar of Cephiro. But the strongest hearts in Cephiro are in pain, and they call for an end to the Pillar. An end to Cephiro. Their will is strong, and the damage that has been dealt them by Cephiro is heavy on my heart, and so I am granting their wish. There will be no new Pillar, I will not open the way for one to take on this mantle. I will let the dream of Cephiro fade._ // 

Mokona had given them time for one final evacuation, away from Cephiro, the humans and spirits and creatures who had made it to the end stumbling heart-sore and bewildered onto a ship they had been given by the Chizetan princesses when they could not offer refuge for them - Chizeta had not enough space for her own children. Aska of Fahren had taken some of their remaining populace with her, promising to see them settled in Fahren, and Eagle Vision offered a job and a place to those mages who felt they could learn to work with Autozam's technology and perhaps find new hope and direction for their rebuilding; they would be doing it without magic, as Cephiran magic was powered by Cephiro herself, and without her their souls would all be stripped bare, abilities gone in a moment. 

By rights, all of them should fade with Cephiro; not just their magic, but their lives. Her people had always been extensions of her self. But Mokona had promised to grant them their selves as one final gift. So they could go out into the world beyond Cephiro, and find a new life for themselves. 

What life there could be for him without magic, Clef had no idea - he'd wanted to be a mage in the service of Cephiro since he knew how to wish, and he'd been one for seven centuries. But people were looking to him, still - looking to him, after he'd walked down the castle tower to the residential areas and told everyone the true nature of the Pillar system. Broke their hearts, undermined their faith. Told them - told them that if they could think of a different path he would pray with them, and perhaps the Creator would grant them it. 

But no one had stepped forward, and he'd accepted Princess Tarta's offer of the old ship when Umi had brought her to him, made arrangements to get everyone on to it, made sure they had people who knew how to pilot the thing. Organised quarters for people, and taking on rations and equipment that would not blink from existence when Cephiro did, and forced himself to look no more than one day forward at a time. 

The knights had helped, all three of them. They'd been unable to help Cephiro, this time; whoever had cast the summoning, the spell had not been fulfilled. Yet there was still hope that they would be able to go home, when the end of all spells came - and come it had. 

Now Clef felt it as Cephiro tore apart, blazed into one final light - he felt it in his own chest, as his magic ripped to pieces, and the agony wiped out the whole world. He never felt it, in the end, as his staff fell away. But he was aware of it when his bones started to hurt, a sharp stabbing as the spell holding himself to a child's form was broken. 

Each new pain was a whole new ending. 

But Mokona kept their word. The cascade of agony faded away, and Clef was still breathing, slumped on the cold metal floor of the bridge with empty hands and an empty heart and tears on his face. Untangling legs longer than he'd known them for years took serious effort, and he was shaking through and through, but he was _breathing_. 

He would get up, and check on everyone else - and then they would start to move forward, to find a home they could truly call beautiful, and theirs, and free from any more terrible sacrifices.


End file.
